At the same time, while Jack was in the New York Sanctum meeting with the Ancient One, Gwen met up with Peter Parker. Just as Gwen had predicted, the first thing Peter asked was—
"Is this your new suit? It looks expensive," Peter asked curiously, since he knew Gwen wasn't very rich.
"Yeah, doesn't it look good? It has a lot of functions. Like this..." She activated the flight system and flew around him.
"Wow, Gwen! How are you flying?" Peter asked excitedly as he watched her.
"Cool, right?" Gwen landed beside him with a smile.
"Yeah, it's really cool. Did you build this?"
"Nope. It was a gift from Hero Blur."
"Hero Blur? But why did he give you this suit? Do you guys know each other?" Peter asked, looking at Gwen suspiciously.
"Maybe he thinks I'm doing a good job and decided to give me one."
"That's unfair. Why did he give you one and not me? We're both doing the same thing!"
"Don't worry. He said he'll give you one later too."
Hearing that, Peter stopped complaining. Even though he didn't really expect anything, just hearing that he would also get a suit made him happy.
"So, what's the situation? You told me we needed to stop some gang, but you didn't tell me the details. What's going on?"
"Yeah, it's serious. While I was searching for Dr. Connors, I discovered a human trafficking operation run by a gang. There are a lot of armed people and they're holding hostages, so I need your help," Peter said seriously.
"I'm in. Let's go." Hearing Peter's explanation, Gwen didn't hesitate for even a second.
"Okay, follow me."
With a swing, Peter took off and Gwen followed him through the night sky. As they crossed above New York, a few people below noticed the Spider-Man duo moving between the buildings.
Soon they arrived in Hell's Kitchen and landed silently on the side of an old warehouse.
"Is this the place?" Gwen asked in a low voice.
"Yeah. I saw those people come in here," Peter replied. He quietly walked to the side of the building, slowly slid open a dusty window, and climbed inside. Gwen followed close behind.
Using stacks of wooden crates and old machinery as cover, they slowly made their way deeper into the warehouse. The warehouse was dimly lit. Several armed gang members sat around a table, drinking, laughing, and playing cards. On the other side of the warehouse was a large metal door, and unlike the others, four gang members stood outside it with guns in their hands, constantly watching their surroundings.
"I think the hostages are in that room," Peter whispered.
"Any plan?" Gwen asked, trusting Peter's judgment in situations like this.
Before Peter could answer, the sound of several vehicles stopping outside echoed through the warehouse. A moment later, another group of gang members walked in, and the men drinking immediately stood up to greet them. From the way everyone reacted, Gwen and Peter instantly realized that the gang leader had just arrived with his men.
"I wonder who this client is. Even the boss is personally delivering the people this time," one gang member whispered.
"Why are you asking that? In this business, you shouldn't ask questions if you want to live long," another gang member replied in a gruff tone.
"Well, it's just... we've already sent more than twenty people, and now another ten. I'm curious what they're needed for. The client only wants adult men, not women, which is strange. Women usually sell for more, right?"
"Hey! You two!" the gang leader shouted. "What are you talking about over there? Get the people ready! The police have already started looking into the missing person reports, so we have to leave soon."
"Yes, Boss!"
Hearing the conversation between the gang members, Gwen and Peter realized there was someone behind the gang, and many people had already been handed over to that mysterious client.
"Change of plan. We should follow these guys, find the mastermind, and save the people who were already sold," Peter said.
"Okay."
The gang members loaded all the hostages into a truck with their hands tied and mouths covered before driving out of the warehouse. With two gang vehicles escorting the truck from the front and back, the convoy quickly left the area, and Peter and Gwen immediately followed.
At first, the two swung through New York together, keeping the convoy in sight from above. But after leaving the city, the buildings became fewer and fewer until there were none left. Peter landed on the ground with a helpless look.
"Looks like this is as far as I can swing."
Gwen smiled. "Good thing my suit can fly." She grabbed Peter by the arm. "Hold on."
The suit's thrusters roared to life as Gwen lifted both of them into the air, silently following the convoy from high above.
"Now I'm really jealous of that suit," Peter muttered.
A few minutes later, the convoy stopped beside an old abandoned building.
Since the surrounding area was wide open with nowhere to hide, Gwen landed a safe distance away.
Using the zoom function built into her helmet, she could clearly see everything happening near the building.
She then released several tiny spider-shaped drones from hidden compartments in her suit.
The coin-sized drones silently flew through the night before splitting up. Some landed on the walls, others attached themselves to the roof, while a few hid among the nearby trees.
Blending perfectly into the darkness, they immediately began transmitting live footage back to Gwen.
"Can you see what's happening over there?" Peter asked. They were too far away for him to see clearly in the dark.
"Yeah." Gwen tapped her wrist and a holographic screen appeared in front of them, displaying live footage from each spider drone from different angles. Peter's eyes widened.
"Now I really can't wait to get mine."
Gwen smiled. "They're getting ready to leave."
"Should we stop them?" Peter asked.
"Don't worry. I've already marked every gang member with the spider drones. Even if they escape now, we can track them later." Gwen kept watching the holographic screen. "Let's rescue the hostages first... and wait to see if anyone else shows up."
A few minutes after the gang members drove away, two large shadows slowly walked out of the abandoned building.
Gwen's eyes widened. Peter stared at the holographic screen in disbelief.
"That's the Lizard we fought before, right? How are there two of them?" he exclaimed.
A/N: The Patreon version is already updated with 20 advanced chapters. If you'd like to read ahead of the public release schedule, you can join here:
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